Gay footballers have nothing to hide, but the 8% that resent them have no place in the game

As a raw statistic, eight per cent does not seem a great deal.

As a poll result, it is emphatic because it means a large majority have taken the opposite point of view. But then you start breaking it down. Eight people out of every one hundred are so repulsed by your personal choices that they would give up something they claim to love because of your involvement.

Applied to the total attendance at English Premier League games last year and eight per cent equates to more than 1 million fans.

All of a sudden, it becomes not just a big number but a sinister, disturbing figure that should trouble anyone who isn’t a twat.

That the overwhelming majority of football supporters would have no problem with having an openly gay player at their club according to a BBC poll is, in one sense, a sign of progress. But that so many remain so prejudiced that they would not watch their team if it contained a single homosexual player is grim in the extreme. They may be a minority but it is one that is too sizeable and too maleficent to be ignored.

Neither Robbie Rogers nor Thomas Hitzlsperger felt they could come out while they were playing in England.

The problem is it isn’t gay footballers who need to come out, it is those who believe their existence should not be tolerated – and if needs be the football industry needs to smoke them out. The whole dynamic needs to be turned on its head so that those who suffer prejudice belong and those responsible for it do not.

The eight per cent needs to be purged. They should be made to feel unwelcome long before they are given any opportunity to vote with their feet.

Writing in The Times last week, Alex Kay-Jelski, one of the few openly gay journalists in the football media, claimed the industry he covers is not yet ready to deal with the reality that it is representative of society as a whole.

“For the player [who comes out], any abuse will hurt, even if the majority of fans will be nothing but supportive (we’ve come a long way since Justin Fashanu was subjected to ‘does he take it up the arse’ chants from one end at Villa Park),” he wrote.

“My husband and I were recently the recipients of some pretty threatening, vile, homophobic  language in London after years of no trouble at all. It shocked us how awful and vulnerable it made us feel. And we weren’t on a football pitch, where it will be worse. Not forever of course, as the FA, clubs and most fans wouldn’t tolerate it and you’d hope it would largely die out.

“But being abused for who you are, for something so inoffensive, hurts more than being abused for cheating to win penalties and people are missing how powerful that can be. Manchester United and England defender Luke Shaw was once the subject of rumours about his sexuality. The abuse he got on Twitter was obviously so bad that he felt the need to tweet that he was straight, something that provoked a lot of criticism. It’s hard to blame him for clearing up the truth, especially if it made the bile disappear.”

@UnitedStandMUFC it's not me ✌🏼 so everyone can shut up now 😀

— Luke Shaw (@LukeShaw23) October 24, 2015

Greg Clarke, the Football Association chairman, made all the right noises last week when he used his appearance before a Parliamentary select committee to publicly acknowledge that English football is not as tolerant as it should be as he vowed to do everything in his power to tackle homophobia.

But there remains a gap between what football says and what football does and while that exists so too will the prejudicial behaviour that Clarke insists he is ready “to come down on like a ton of bricks.”

Rainbow laces and flags are a step in the right direction but one that will only ever take us so far. The same applies to the support shown to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups by a number of clubs.

If it feels cosmetic and looks cosmetic then it probably is, although the motivation of those involved is obviously not in question. The game-changer is to be found away from PR campaigns that allow us to feel better about ourselves.

Clubs and the FA need to do everything in their power to create an environment in which gay players feel able to be themselves whether they wish to come out or not. At times, football loses sight of its own power and ability to make a difference but if those within the game and who run the game really want to eradicate homophobia as they claim, they have it within their ability to do so. Supporters increasingly hang on every word of high profile managers and players so why not ask them to front a tolerance campaign?

As Kay-Jelski argued in The Times, a telephone helpline for gay players to access would be another progressive move, as would a demonstrable commitment to work in partnership with gay rights groups.

But then we all have a role to play and a good start would be for those in football, as participants or spectators, who are in the 82% who have no issue with gay players to reveal as much.

It isn’t gay footballers who have a guilty secret, it is the eight per cent who resent their existence.   

The FootballJOE quiz: Were you paying attention? – episode 10